Simon Soon
A respondent in the Historical Survey of the Mosques and Kramats on Penang Island (1974) claimed the Pintal Tali Mosque was built in 1820. The mosque was built on 'Rope Walk', so-called because this was where the rope-spinners resided. Many members were made up of cart-drivers and rope-spinners. The Jama'ah had Malay, Indian, Javanese, and Boyanese members. Pitt Street, King Street (boatmen), and Rope Walk Street were associated with this mosque.
The mosque is originally called Mesjid Syed Mohamed Bilfakih. It was founded by the son-in-law of Tengku Syed Hussain, the late nineteenth century, an Acehnese clan leader who moved to Penang and set up base at Acheen Street.
It became famous primarily because the White Flag Secret Society had the Pintal Tali Mosque as its headquarters in the mid-nineteenth century. Pak Etam, a shipping agent and one of the few leaders of the White Flag society noted that he only visited the mosque once a year to celebrate the Muslim's new year in the month of Muharram.
Notes
Khoo Salma Nasution. 2007. Streets of George Town, Penang. Penang: Areca Books,156.
Penang Riots Report. 1867. Commissioners under the Penang Riots Enquiry Act of 1867 sitting in the Office of the Public Works Department, George Town, Penang, 204-5.
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